News:
February 4, 2013
Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP) Kennedy Agyapong has condemned the decision of the minority in Parliament to boycott the vetting of presidential nominees for ministerial positions.
Mr Agyapong said the decision was imposed on the minority MPs by the National Executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and blamed his colleagues for allowing party leadership to dictate to them on the matter.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Nhyira FM on Saturday, Mr Agyepong insisted that the absence of minority parliamentarians on the Appointments Committee bad because it allowed the nominees to walk through the vetting without any difficulty.
He said that if the minority had participated in the vetting, they would have stripped some of the nominees naked, lamenting that the decision to boycott the proceedings had thrown everything overboard.
Mr Agyepong asked whether the minority could not make their own decision regarding their participation in the vetting.
He said the National Executive of the NPP was not helping the party in any way.
He was of the view that since the national executive did not contribute anything to the campaigning of the parliamentary candidates, the party leadership should have allowed the Members of Parliament on the Minority side to take their own decision.
Mr Agyepong said he would have challenged the decision by the National Executive of the NPP but for the fact that he had travelled to Sierra Leone.
He said the majority of the party’s supporters are strongly against the boycott of the parliamentary vetting.
He also pointed out that some minority MPs collected the money for offered for accommodations in connection with the vetting exercise only to abstain from participating.
Mr Agyepong warned that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) majority in Parliament are making a mockery of the NPP because of the boycott.
He said that given that the NPP was already in court challenging the results of the 2012 presidential elections, there was no need for the boycott.
However, he supported the party’s case currently before the Supreme Court since he believes the presidential election was cooked for the NDC.
Daily Graphic